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NATIONAL CENTER FOR WOMEN & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND BLOOMBERG PARTNER TO INCREASE NUMBERS OF YOUNG WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY FIELDS

NATIONAL CENTER FOR WOMEN & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND BLOOMBERG PARTNER TO INCREASE NUMBERS OF YOUNG WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY FIELDS

May 13, 2013

Businesswire

[Boulder, Colo. - May 10, 2013] The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) and Bloomberg LP today announced their partnership in an initiative to increase the numbers of young women pursuing careers in technology.

Bloomberg is the National Sponsor of the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Community, a growing cohort of high school and college women who aspire to work in computing-related careers. The Aspirations in Computing program identifies young women with tech talent at the high-school level and engages them in a community that provides resources, connections to scholarships and internships, mentoring and encouragement, and access to a national network of other young technical women as they navigate from high school to college and the technology workforce.

“With the Department of Labor projecting 1.4 million technology jobs in the workforce by 2020, we cannot afford to build a talent pool that overlooks 50 percent of the population,” said Beth Mazzeo, Chief Operating Officer of Bloomberg, who has been named a member of the NCWIT board of directors. “The Aspirations in Computing Community is a proven vehicle for ensuring that young women with creativity, innovation, and skill enter and stay in the tech talent pipeline.”

Bloomberg’s partnership with NCWIT will provide regional and virtual community activities for more than 2,300 technical young women nationwide, including meetups, technology projects, career and technical skill-building seminars, access to internships, and scholarship opportunities. Already in 2013 Bloomberg has sponsored students to participate at the White House Tech Inclusion Summit and a FIRST New York City tournament and “Young Women in Technology” event.

On May 20-22, 2013, Bloomberg will host 21 winners of the Award for Aspirations in Computing at the NCWIT Summit on Women and IT in Tucson, Arizona. The NCWIT Summit is a national gathering of more than 350 change leaders from K-12, academia, and industry working to advance women’s participation in technology. The female students are attending as “ambassadors” and will have opportunities to network, attend sessions, and join a meetup of young technical women.

“Research tells us that girls often lose interest in math and science at the grade-school level, and that encouragement and support have a huge impact on their perseverance and future career decisions,” said NCWIT CEO Lucy Sanders. “Bloomberg’s support for this program signals its commitment to building a stronger, more diverse technology workforce.”

About the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT)

NCWIT is a non-profit working to increase women’s participation in computing and technology. NCWIT helps organizations more effectively recruit, retain, and advance girls and women in K-12 through college education, and from academic to corporate and startup careers. NCWIT is supported by the National Science Foundation, Microsoft, Bank of America, Avaya, Pfizer, Merck, Turner, AT&T, Bloomberg, EMC, Google, Motorola, Qualcomm, Intel, HP, Symantec, and more than 450 universities, companies, non-profits, and government organizations nationwide. Find out more at http://www.ncwit.org.

About Bloomberg

Bloomberg connects influential decision-makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. Its strength - quickly and accurately delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology - is at the core of everything it does. With over 15,000 employees in 192 locations, Bloomberg delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world. Find out more at http://www.bloomberg.com.